Preparing students for the TOEIC Speaking and Writing Test

                 

Unlike TOEIC Listening and Reading, training for the Speaking and Writing test is harder since the answers are more subjective, that is, there is not a correct or incorrect response, it all depends on the examiner evaluating the test who will consider whether you deserve a good score or not, therefore, there are limited exercises found on the net.

Another point to consider is the type of questions we commonly come across during the test. It’s complicated to make a simulation of the test without really knowing the format of it and as we may have noticed, not many people have taken it.

The first time I had to prepare my students for this certification I wasn´t really sure how to do it, I mean,  with limited information (mainly the handbook provided by ETS, which is not enough) and with almost no material or exercises to use in the classroom, I had a hard time finding good material. I ran into great books to prepare students for the test and when I tried to download them, I found out I had to pay for them.

After working for three years training for this test, I have come to the realization that what students mainly need is practice so as to gain confidence. So I have gathered some material that will be of great help for our students to practice and improve their skills for their test. Most of this material has been taken from:

1.       Kenton County Adult English as a Second Language. (s.f.). TOEIC Preparation: TOEFL/ TOEIC Preparation. Obtenido de TOEFL/ TOEIC Preparation: https://sites.google.com/a/kentonesl.org/toefl-toeic-preparation/toeic-preparation

2. Trew, G. (2006). Tactics for TOEIC Speaking and Writing Tests. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

SPEAKING TEST

Some pieces of advice:

1.       Have Ss record with their cellphones or any other recording device the exercises from the PDF documents all the time.

2.       Take your time to teach each question of the test, i.e., questions one and two may take you two classes.

3.       Read the “Tips” or “Test Techniques” found on the Tactic Practice exercises.

4.       Familiarize Ss with the scoring guidelines so they know what they have to do in order to get the highest score in each question of the test.

5.       Once they are familiar with the criteria, share Ss’ recordings with their classmates and have them give the student immediate feedback.

6.       Play the “answer examples” from test takers available in the PDF documents so Ss have an idea of answers that will give them a good score.

You will find some useful videos I recommend watching first before socializing the guided questions and then, it is better if they take notes as you explain.

Once they have learned about the structure, times, and tips for test, it is the moment to wrap everything up. How to make students not to forget the tactics and help them practice? I have created 5 complete speaking practice tests which students hand in weekly. First, I told them to record from Powerpoint and then convert it into a video. But there was a problem in the questions that required audio, since both, the students’ voice and the audio inserted in the slide would play at the same time not allowing me to hear the students’ response. So, they had two options, either to leave it as a presentation which I would have to open and listen to each slide or to screencast with a practical software called “ACTIVE”, which I will also share.

Evaluating the tests takes a while especially if you have a large class but it is worth the effort when you see students’ improvement. To grade them, I made this rubric and as I listen to their responses I am writing comments on aspects they could do better. Let’s say they make grammar mistakes, I do not write each grammar mistake I hear, instead I write something general like “Unclear message, work on grammar”. The score they get in each section varies, depending on the highest they can get from the real test. In the real TOEIC speaking test, for questions 1-2, the highest is 3 but in questions 10 and 11, it’s 5.

Find the S&W Practices tests HERE.  

Find all about the SPEAKING Preparation material HERE.

Find material to prepare for the WRITING test HERE